ponsaelius

You're at the other end of the spectrum, though. Anti-British would be a nice way to put it. Well, no, that's utter bollocks. As a fan of Newcastle United I hate the way the Premier League (and football in general tbh) is, and the fact that people take pride in a league that shits on supporters and doesn't represent them in any way whatsoever is daft. Don't see what is wrong with my post at all. Then again you seem to love the fact that City are basically ruining the league completely.

Very strong. Ribery is underrated on these shores, quality player.

If they thought the difference between the two sales was £15m and they got it, why is it mental? Chelsea are the club that got stung, not Liverpool. They managed to get Suarez out of the whole scenario and he's as good as the two combined, even if he is a detestable creature. This is such a stupid way of thinking. They didn't spend Chelsea's money, they've spent their own. It was their £35 million generated by selling one of their most prized assets (a one they invested heavily in in the first place). It is mental because they've spent £35 million on a player who currently barely looks Premier League standard. That £35 million pissed up the wall will almost certainly be the difference between them getting into the CL or not. Honestly, what a crock of shit. I'd expect Liverpool fans to gobble this shite up but not anybody from a neutral standpoint.

Bayern being cunts. Napoli better win.

Was watching our Championship season review before and when the Huddersfield cup game came on I remembered that before the game there were rumours that Gareth Bale was going to join on loan. I also remember being happy to potentially have a player coming in but a bit non-plussed that it was Bale. Just a bit mad how much he's improved since.

I know where you're coming from, but so far they both look like two of the biggest flops in football history - hardly 'sensible' At least Carroll was on form. Torres had been garbage for about a year. Or you could argue that atleast Torres had been a world class striker in the past and proven it over a number of seasons in the CL, Euros and World Cup...

I know where you're coming from, but so far they both look like two of the biggest flops in football history - hardly 'sensible'

Also, how is it shocking to see Messi dictate the play more than Cronaldo? It's probably because he can actually do it, unlike Ronaldo.

Fault was a strong word. Maybe I should have asked 'is Villa being sacrificed for Messi?' Yeah well, he's the centerpiece of our team, but I don't think the problem is Messi hogging all of our attacking play and Villa dropping to a side. David gets involved a lot, but he's snatching at it. I seem to remember Sid Lowe mentioning that Villa doesn't get along that well with Messi. That said, I was probably only half listening to what he was saying and so he was probably taking the p*ss out of some Marca headline. A small Valencia rag claimed that, and Marca echoed it. Would surprise me if it's real, there's a lot of videos of both of them doing stuff together during travels. And they do have a pretty good understanding on the pitch, they synch their movements pretty well. That said, I have lots of time for anything Lowe says or claims about Spanish football. I am the opposite. Villa isn't as bad as Zlatan but it wouldn't surprise me if Villa finally falls out with Messi due to Messi's dictate tempo upfront. It is shocking to see Messi dictating the ball even more than Cristiano (this year). He has gone over the top imo. http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9d5e5uCdG1qd2s0to1_100.gif Zlatan's record for Barca is better than Villa's.

Defoe is playing pretty frequently for Spurs and is one of only 2 reliable forwards they've got, nee chance.

Love that post johnny, cheers.

Funny when Carroll was scoring goals for us last season I kept fantasing about how good he would be if he had a quality forward buzzing around him/making space and how he'd probably score even more goals. Then you look at him now and how much of a disfunctional partnership him and Suarez are, bizarre.

Depends what you think makes it the best. Personally as a match going fan I wish the Premier League was more like the Bundesliga. Of course, the German teams don't compete in Europe in the same way but frankly how well Chelsea or Manchester United 'represent' this country continentally doesn't concern me in any way. They represent their club only and even that's a push these days when you consider where the financing, manager, board and players come from. The Premier League tends to have a tempo that can make even the shittest quality teams (Wolves vs mackems the other day for example) fun to watch. Despite all the money sloshing around the teams towards the lower end of the league still largely splurge on dross and short term solutions. Maybe if the money that trickled down went on building up the youth setups of these clubs then the national team wouldn't have such slim pickings in terms of players. Or maybe employing managers that have a long-term plan for the clubs instead of just picking off the managerial merrygo round over and over again might make for more actual progress. The league is the best marketed, richest and most profitable but the whole thing is a crock of shit tbh. It's a corporate playground built on sand and hardly anything to bleat about proudly like pundits and the likes do. I do enjoy watching the Premier League, particularly considering that the money involved has brought in some fantastic players (watching Silva almost makes the plastic nature of their success excusable) but I hardly take pride in how 'strong' the league is. Anybody that does is a bit of a whopper tbh.

Smith is worse than Perch.

Just reading an article that says buying those players wasn't based entirely on stats. Makes more sense. They should probably fire their scouts too, then.

That's what I thought. I haven't seen the film but have been meaning to do so.

I mentioned this the other day. The whole moneyball thing is based around finding bargains and anomolies in the market based on looking at statistics differently. I don't follow the sport either but I think all clubs in baseball use sabermetrics extensively now. Liverpool were apparently trying to impliment it in football according to Comolli but I don't see how they have in any way. They've actually gone out and bought players who are overpriced relative to their ability (because of nationality and contract length, mainly). The moneyball approach will never work in football because football can't be quantified by statistics in the same way baseball can, it's too fluid and the stats are influenced by numerous different factors (the player's teammates, position, tactics, luck etc). Apparently they signed Adam, Downing and Henderson because they were highest on the assist/chance creation charts last season. You've got to hope that wasn't their primary basis for signing them, because it's absolutely ludicrous if so. Players should be signed on their on pitch qualities and ability, this can be judged through scouting but never purely on statistics. It's mental.

I can't remember him getting lots of assists although he may have done. I just remember him not being very effective on the wing. I remember similar to Cajun tbh so looked it up, Guthrie was top of our assist charts with 13 according to this: http://www.nufc.co.uk/page/Assists/0,,10278~200910278,00.html Although who knows how many of them came from out wide before we bought Routledge. Large amount of them will be from set pieces I'd imagine. He definitely would have set up some goals from out wide though, Shola's against Boro in particular was an amazing cross. Generally though his performances were iffy out there because he struggled to hold position, isn't very quick... etc.

Colocho kept saying that all the way through the promotion season and the start of last season too.

Moncur wanted Kilgallon to replace him too.

Loads of shite spouted about Coloccini on this forum in the past like. Seem to remember even when he was easily our best performer in the Championship there was many who held a vendetta and wanted him sold, despite the umpteen players less capable of the step up in our promotion side. You'd like to think he's universally turned opinion by now.

Sickener for the Greeks.

Is Montoya a fullback or CB?